Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-02-18


the tOitdernsss like pillars of smoke 9n-Soi
omon's Song, iii, 6.
The architecture of the smoke is wondrous
whether God with His finger curls it into q
cloud, or rounds it into dome, or points it in
spire, or spreads it in a wing; or, as in the
text, hoists it in pillar. Watch it winding up
from the country farmhouse in the early
morning, showing that the pastoral indus
| tries have begun; or see it ascending from
the chimneys of the city, telling of the
homes fed, the factories turning out valu-
able fabbrlc, the printing-presses preparing
| book and newspaper and all the ten thou
sand wheels of work in motion. On a clear
| day this vapor spoken of mounts with such
buoyancy, and spreads such delicate veil
across the sky, and traces such graceful lines
or circle, semi circle and wave, and tosses,
and sinks, and scars, and scatters with such
athuence of shape, and color and suggestive
ness, that II you have never noticed it YOU
are like man who has all his life lived in
farlS and yet never seen the Luxembourg, or
all his life in Rome and never seen the Vati-
| can, or all his life at Lockport and never
seen Niagara. Forty-four times the Bible
speaks of the smoke, and it is about time that
somebody breaches a sermon recognizing this
strange, weird, beautiful, elastic, charming
terrific and fascinating vapor. Across the
Bible sky floats the smoke of Sinai, the smoke
of Sodom, the smoke of All, the smoke of the
piOj Ihe sllOhe VI the NOlcaQlC nils wfen TOD
| touches them, and in my text the glorious
| Church of God coming up out of the wilder
| ike pillars of smoke.
In the first place, these pillars of smoke in
my text indicate the suffering the Church of
God has endured. What do 1 mean by the
Chnrchf mean not building, not sect
but those who in all ages and all lands, and
OF all beliefs, love God and are trying to do
right. For many centuries the heavens have
been black with the smoke of martyrdom.
II set 81 ie by side you could girdle the earth
with the fires of persecution. Rowland Tay-
lor burned at Hadleigh Latimer burned at
oxford: John Rogers burned at Smithfeld;
John Hooper burned at Gloucester; John
Huss burned at Constance; Laurence Saun-
ders burned at Coventry; jean of Arc
burned at Rouen; Protestants have some-
times pointed to the Catholics as having
monopoly of prosecutors; but both
Protestant and Catholic have practiced
Infamous cruelties. The Catholics during
| the reign of Hunneric were by Protestants
put to the worst tortures, stripped of their
clothing, hoisted in the air by pulleys with
weights suspended from their feet, then let
down, and ears and eyes, nose and tongue
were amputated, and red-hot plates of iron
were put against the tendereSt part of their
bodies. George Bancroft, the historian, says
Of the State of Maryland "In the land which
Catholics had opened to Protestants mass
might not be said publicly; no Catholic
priest or bishop might utter his faith in
voice of persuasion; no Catholic might
teach the young. If wayward child
eft Papist would but become an apos-
tate, the law wrested for him from his
parents share of their property. Such
were the methods adopted to prevent the
growth of Popery." Speaking of Ireland,
Bancroft, the historian, says: "Such priests
as were permitted to reside in Ireland were
rn0Iira6 fO ba IanistaraI nd
like prisoners at large within prescribed
limits. All Papists exercising ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, all monks friars and regular
priests, and all priests not then actually in
parishes and to be registered were banished
from Ireland under pain of transportation,
and, on return, OF being hanged, drawn and
luartered.n
Catholicism as well as Professionalism has
had its martyrs 1t does seem as If when any
one sect got complete dominancy in any land
the devil of persecution and cruelty took
possession of that sect. Then see the Cath
olics after the Hugenots See the Gentiles
after the Jews in Touraine, where a great
pit was dug and fire lighted at the bottom of
the pit, and 100 Jewish victims were con-
sumed. See the Presbyterian Parliament of
England, more tYrannical in their
treatment of opponents than had
been the criminal courts Persecution
against the Baptists by Pedo-Baptsts.
Persecution of the Established Church against
the Methodist Church. Persecution against
the Quakers. Persecution against the Pres
byterianS. Under Emperor Diocletian one
hundred and forty-four thousand Christians
were massacred and seven hundred thou
sand more of them died from Punishment
and exposure. Witness the sufferngs of the
Waldenses, of the Albigensss, of the
HISTORIANS. Witness st. Bartholomew
massacre. Witness the Duke of Alva
driving out of life eighteen thou.
Nero, and Decius, and Hildebrand, and Tor
| quemada, and Earl of MOntfort, and Lord
Claverhouse, who, when told that he must
give account for his cruelties said: II have
no need to account to man, and as for God |
will take Him in my own hands, A red
line runs through the church history of nine
teen hundred years, line of blood Not by
the hundreds of thousands, but by the mill.
ions, must we count those slain for Christ's
sake. No wonder John Milton put the groans
of the martyrs to an immortal tune writing;
"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints
whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains
cold.na
The smoke of martyrs homes and mar.
tyrs bodies, if rolling up all at once, would
have eclipsed the MONDAY sun and turned
the brightest day the world ever saw into a
midnight who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness like pillars of smoker
Has persecution ceased Ask that young
man who is trying to be Christ an in a store
or factory, who is the butt of all the mean
witticisims of unbelieving employees Ask
that wife whose husband makes her fondness
| for the house of God and even her kneel-
| lAg prayer by the bedside a derision and is
no more fit for her holy companioship thar
a filthy crow would be fit companion for q
robin or golden oriole. Comprom Sc with
the world and surrender to its convention
alities and it may let you alone, but all who
will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution. Be theatre-going, card-play.
ing, wine drinking, round dancing Christian
and you may escape criticism and social
pressure. But be an up and down. out and
out follower of Christ, ana wording will
wink to wording as he speaks youl
name, and you will be put in many
doggerel and snubbed by tENse MOI
worthy to blacken your oldest shoes
When the bridge at Ashtabula broke
and let down the most of the carload of pas
sengers to instant death. Mr. p P. Bliss wa'
seated on one side of the aisle of the cal
writing down Christian song which he wal
composing, and on the other side group Of
men were playing cards. Whose landing
place in eternity would you prefer--tha o
p. P. Bliss, the Gospel singer, or Of the ca
| players'
The great complaint comes from the thea
tres about the ladies' high hats, be ause the!
OBJ trCct the view of the stage, and lad
reI o,ter asked M, the other day what
thouaht about it, ard told hrr that II th
] Ge"ent pi lures Of actresses in the sho,
windows OF Brooklyn and New York wer
accurate picturrs OF what roes on in man
of the theatres night by night, then it you'll
IA, n 1nJi, = hnf V,Ntia ,rrk,
So as to completely olstruct the vision. /
professed Christians go to such PLACES durin;
tina week, no one will ever porsocute then
for their religion, for they have non
and they are the joke of hell But let then
li'e a consecrated and Christ an life anC